1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reel for round rolling stock, such as fine steel or medium steel, particularly wire, with a coil basket for the wire coil to be coiled and vertically extending guide pins for the wire arranged in the coil basket, and with a raisable and lowerable coil floor which can be actuated by a lifting rod.
2. Description of the Related Art
Rolling trains for wire, fine steel or medium steel are composed of a plurality of high-quality plant components. A single-line or multiple-line wire train is composed, for example, of a support grate for the rolling material being used, usually in the form of billets, and a furnace in which the billets are heated to rolling temperature. The billets are conveyed from the furnace into a breaking-down train which is composed of several roll stands in which a twist-free rolling is made possible. The intermediate train following the breaking-down train also is composed of several roll stands, for example, compact stands, which make it possible to use rolling rings with long service lives. The intermediate train is followed by a finishing train which may be composed of a ten-stand finishing block which is designed for high rolling speeds of up to 90 m/sec and above. Aside from the first two stands of the breaking-down train in which box grooves are used, the rolling stock is exclusively shaped in oval grooves and round grooves. Following the wire train, the rolled wire is cooled. The rolling stock which has been rolled into a round cross-section is coiled into coils in Garrett reels. The rolling stock coils are conveyed from the reel to a transport unit and from there onto a hook conveyor on which further cooling of the rolling stock takes place. Subsequently, the rolling stock coils are shipped.
Among the high-quality plant components of the wire train, as mentioned above, are the wire reel and the means for transporting the coiled wire coil arranged following the wire reel. The reel and the coil transporting means must not impair the continuous manufacturing process of wire and must not cause any damage to the wire surfaces.
A wire reel with an output device for the reeled rolling stock coil is disclosed in DE 37 23 461 A1. The wire reel includes a coil lifting plate which can be raised and lowered in the direction of the center axis of the reel basket by means of a central lifting rod. The rolling stock coiled into a coil is lifted by means of the coil lifting plate until it can be removed from the reel basket.
DE 42 13 459 A1 discloses a device for removing rolling stock coiled into coils, particularly wire, from a reel end for transferring the rolling stock coils to subsequently arranged transport devices. It is proposed that the output and transfer device is provided with a carrousel-type support pallet for the coiled rolling stock coils which can be raised and lowered and displaced horizontally. In addition, one or more reels or one more transport devices are arranged in the peripheral area of displacement of the support pallet. When a coiled wire coil is lifted out of the reel and the coil floor is positioned in the upper reel head, support arms of the transport device are inserted into the longitudinal grooves of the coil floor and are moved underneath the wire coil as a result. For transporting the wire coil, the support arms are lifted, so that the wire coil rests on the support arms. The wire coil resting on the support arms of the transport device is transported from the reel to a transfer device.
When the coiled wire coil is transferred from the reel to the support arms of the transport device, it was not always possible to prevent the last one to two windings of the wire coil from sliding downwardly in irregular intervals. When the support arms of the transport device were inserted in the longitudinal grooves or slots of the coil floor, problems occurred because the end of the windings which were hanging down ended up in front of the open slots of the coil floor.
In the enclosed FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawing, designated as prior art, this disadvantageous situation is illustrated. In this situation, before the support arms can be inserted into the slots of the coil floor, it was necessary that the operating personnel had to carry out a manual operation. The operator had to lift the wire end with tongs in order to make it possible that the support arms could be inserted into the slots. It was possible only in this manner to ensure a continuous and problem-free transfer of the coiled wire coil from the reel to the transport device. If the operator did not act in this manner, the devices involved in the operation would be damaged, as is clear particularly from FIG. 4. This is because, when the wire end comes to rest in front of one the slots of the coil floor and the support arms of the transport device are inserted into the slots, the wire end is being bent into the slot of the support floor. It is apparent that the bent end of the wire made it impossible to insert the support arms which resulted in damage and required significant manipulations by the operator in order to move the end of the wire from the slot of the coil floor.